


We're All Trying To Find Our Way

by fezwearingjellybananas



Series: Barry Allen Week 2019 [6]
Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-30
Updated: 2019-11-30
Packaged: 2021-02-26 03:47:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,924
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21617068
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fezwearingjellybananas/pseuds/fezwearingjellybananas
Summary: Iris was a journalist. Maybe the Citizen was still a small, growing paper, but of course she'd heard about the murder recently splatted across the headlines, and the C.S.I. who'd been arrested.Still, she hadn't exactly expected to meet Barry Allen when he showed up with his C.V.
Relationships: Barry Allen/Iris West
Series: Barry Allen Week 2019 [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1552891
Comments: 7
Kudos: 25





	We're All Trying To Find Our Way

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Barry Allen Week Day 7: Boss/Mayor
> 
> Not quite sure how I feel about this one, I had a little trouble coming up with ideas for this prompt. Title is from "Grace" by Rag'n'Bone Man, which I did listen to quite a few times writing this. I don't know how well it actually fits the fic, but it's a nice song?

Their office was small, but so was the Central City Citizen. It wasn’t as if Iris, Linda, and Kamila needed a lot of space. Maybe it was a little more cramped now they had that intern Cecile had sent their way, Allegra Garcia, but a bigger office would cost more. This office had several things in its favour: it was cheap, for the location, they weren’t far from C.C.P.D. which also meant they were close to Iris’ dad, they were also close to Jitters, and they had pretty good neighbours too. Most of them kept to themselves, but Ralph across the hall was a P.I., so sometimes if he’d heard something he might give them a tip, and he was always full of potential leads if they needed any for an investigation.

But the Citizen was growing. They were entirely online, unlike most of the news sources in Central, but the number of hits on their website was going up every week.

Which meant they were going to need a little extra help. Between Iris and Linda, they could handle editing, and Kamila was good at layout, but none of them were exactly web designers. But for that they’d need to hire someone, which meant they needed more money again, and they’d need a bigger office and that would cost more money, and Iris and Linda had not been told about this when they’d quit Picture News to start up this endeavour.

First, they needed other help. Someone to do admin, maybe to answer the phone, just an assistant. So, Linda had stuck up an advert. It currently wasn’t planned to be a permanent position, and maybe the fact they could offer pretty much no money meant it wasn’t appealing to most people, so, so far they hadn’t had many C.V.s dropped through. Mostly students who needed something to tide them over for the summer. Iris remembered that. She’d spent her summers, and evenings, working in Jitters.

Linda and Kamila were both out. Linda was interviewing Doctor Tess Morgan of S.T.A.R. Labs for a piece on the particle accelerator project, and Kamila had gone to take pictures. Allegra had already left for the evening. Iris was actually planning on locking up and heading home, but someone knocked on her door.

“I am so sorry it’s late,” he said. The guy standing there seemed familiar, but mostly Iris’ first impression was that he was cute. He was wearing a shirt, and a bowtie, but it suited him. And he seemed nervous. He had an envelope in his hands, and he was holding it like he wasn’t sure whether to hand it over or not. “Um, I was told you were hiring?”

“Right,” Iris said. “Yes. Is that…”

“Oh, here.” He handed her the envelope. “Sorry, I probably should have just e-mailed.”

“I’ll take a look at it,” Iris said. “Mister…”

“Allen,” he said. “Barry Allen. I’m so sorry, I should have introduced myself.”

“Iris West.” She offered him her hand and Barry shook it with a smile. Ralph’s door opened behind him.

“Hey, Iris,” Ralph said. He locked his office. “Ready, Barry?”

“Yep,” Mister Allen said. “Nice to meet you, Ms West.”

“Likewise. See you tomorrow, Ralph.”

“See you tomorrow, Iris.” Ralph waved and left, with Mister Allen. Interesting.

Iris went back to her desk and opened the envelope and scanned Barry Allen’s C.V. until she found what she was looking for. Most of his job history was in forensics, except a paper round and a few summers and weekends working at the reception desk of an estate agents’. But forensics told Iris all she need to know. That explained why he’d seemed familiar, and why he was job hunting. Possibly how he knew Ralph too.

Still, she was intrigued enough to put his C.V. on the pile to consider.

* * *

Iris always got to work just before nine so she could unlock the office and set up. And Ralph was arriving when she got there too.

“So,” Iris said. “Barry Allen.”

“He’s a friend,” Ralph said.

“You told him about the job.”

“Yeah, last night, and I figured it would be easier for him to just borrow my printer and hand you his C.V.”

“Work can’t come easy for an ex-C.S.I. who was accused of murder.”

“And found innocent,” Ralph said. “Believe me, I’ve known Barry for years, there’s no way he could do this. If you need a reference, Director Singh will probably still give you one.”

“I do have a few applications to go through.”

* * *

Still, Iris called Barry Allen back for an interview. He even managed to be almost on time.

Allegra was off covering a press conference Mayor Bellows was giving ahead of upcoming election season, but Linda was sat at her desk still typing. She’d helped Iris with the first two interviews.

“I am so sorry,” Mister Allen said.

“That’s all right,” Iris said. “This is my colleague, Linda Park.”

“Nice to meet you,” he said.

“Hi,” Linda said. “I am listening, I’ve just got an article to finish too.”

“Please, take a seat,” Iris said. Mister Allen pulled out the chair the other side of her desk and perched on the edge. “You did list some experience as a receptionist.”

“My mother is an estate agent, I helped out for a few years in breaks from uni,” he said. “It was quite a while ago.”

“And your other jobs in forensics...”

“There’s a lot of paperwork involved so I assume that would help with admin?”

“Bit of a career change,” Linda said.

“Oh, well. Um. Circumstances change and all that.” He looked between the two of them. “You’re reporters, you must know.”

“Yes,” Iris said. “Why did you become a C.S.I. originally?”

“I wanted to help people. I was good at chemistry, and it was a way to do that.”

“You’re aware that this job is temporary. That its job description was rather vague, and that we can’t offer much pay right now.”

“I know. But I do need to do something, at least until I work out what to do with the rest of my life, and Ralph said you were good people here and he though I’d be able to give you a hand.”

“You can remind me why S.T.A.R. Labs plan to build the particle accelerator underground,” Linda said.

“It’s mostly the size,” Mister Allen said. “They’re not planning on something as big as the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, but it’s still going to be a few miles long, they need to build it underground, so they have enough space. Also, the ground should provide some degree of additional protection from any alpha and beta radiation in the unlikely event something goes wrong, I suppose.”

“How much do you know about physics?”

“Physics is mostly a hobby but there is some overlap with chemistry, chemistry mostly focuses on the outer shell of electrons since those dictate reactions, and as I’m an organic chemist I mostly studied carbon-based compounds, but I have studied some basic quantum physics?”

“Huh. And you’re friends with Ralph.”

“Yes.”

“Iris?”

“I think so too,” Iris said. “Could you start at nine tomorrow?”

“Just like that?” Mister Allen asked.

“I’m sure you won’t be surprised to hear that neither of us have really done this before,” Iris said. “But yes, just like that. Do you have any questions for us?”

“Do I need to bring my own laptop?”

“We can sort something. Is nine all right?”

“I will be here,” Mister Allen said. “Thank you.”

Iris offered her his hand and he shook it, slightly bemused.

“We’ll see you tomorrow, Mister Allen.”

“Barry,” he said. “Just Barry, please.”

* * *

Barry worked quietly. He chewed his lip while he was concentrating. Iris had dug up an old laptop of Wally’s and perhaps it was a little slow, but it did still work. Iris had pulled out the accounts for Barry to start with.

He was intriguing. He didn’t smile much- Iris assumed he hadn’t had much to smile about recently- but when he did it was dazzling. And he was quiet until Linda brought up something scientific when he’d light up. He could talk for hours about that. He wasn’t always good at timing himself, but he’d helped Iris organise her diary and everything fitted much better now.

He’d even somehow been able to help Allegra with her piece on local farming practises and their environmental impacts. And when Iris had mentioned Barry to her dad, he’d only had good things to say. She’d debated going to speak to Director Singh, but that felt a little too much like prying and if Iris was going to get to know Barry Allen, she would do it through Barry Allen.

Which meant asking him for coffee.

* * *

Finding a time happened rather naturally. Ralph was out on a case, tailing a potentially cheating spouse again, and Barry seemed a little lost when they left that evening. Ralph’s office was still locked.

“You okay?” Iris asked.

“Yeah,” Barry said. “Just, you know.”

“Ralph normally gives you a lift?” Iris asked. Barry raised an eyebrow. “It’s not hard to notice the two of you arrive and leave at the same time. I can give you one if you want.”

“Oh. Oh, I couldn’t possibly ask you to do that.”

“You’re not, I’m offering.”

“I can pay for petrol?”

“How about just coffee?”

“I can do coffee,” Barry said.

* * *

Jitters had a fairly long line, and it was quite loud inside. But it was a nice evening. Fairly cool. The sky was lit up gold from the sunset.

“So, how did you know that stuff Allegra was asking you?” Iris asked. “Chemistry, physics, farming, organisation, agriculture, is there anything you don’t know, Barry?”

Barry laughed, and blushed.

“My ma’s family have a farm just outside Fallville, it’s this little town in Iowa. I was born up there. We lived in Central, but we visited frequently, and I guess more rubbed off on me than I realised. It was actually an agriculture essay I wrote that got me into Sun. But I like forensics. What about you? Why journalism?”

“It’s grounded in truth,” Iris said. “You know my dad, Captain West, Grandpa was a cop too, so I grew up understanding justice. And I also saw how the system lets people down sometimes. I liked telling stories, I liked solving mysteries, and I’d like people to know the truth about what’s happening in the world. Linda and I worked at Picture News together, and we wanted to branch out on our own so we could follow the stories that we wanted to write, and we wanted to make the news as accessible to as many people as we can.”

“Well, I’m glad there are people like you chasing the truth.”

“Thank you,” Iris said. “This is my car. Where am I dropping you?”

“Um, do you know where Ralph lives?”

“You live with Ralph?”

“He offered his futon when I lost my place. My landlord knew I wouldn’t make rent without a job and he wasn’t thrilled with having a crime scene in his building, so you know.”

“I’m sorry,” Iris said.

“It wasn’t a great place anyway, and I didn’t really want to stick around either.”

“I hope you don’t mind me asking, but how does a guy like you get accused of murder? You’re just so…”

“Unassuming?”

“Sweet,” Iris said. “You seem like the sort of person who couldn’t hurt a fly.”

“Well, that’s not that uncommon,” Barry said. “I deal with the physical evidence, but I do have to attend trials, and I do hear that fairly often. But it’s because Professor DeVoe was found in my kitchen with my kitchen knife through his chest.” He raised an eyebrow.

“This is all off the record,” Iris said. “Just two friends talking. Do you know how he got there?”

“Not alone, he had ALS,” Barry said. “But I wasn’t home, so no.”

“He was married.”

“He was, but both Professor DeVoes seemed very in love when we met. I suppose that could have been a mistake on my part, but I don’t think it was Marlize, and I don’t know why she would have picked my apartment if it was.”

“But you knew them.”

“Not well, Clifford and I only met a few times. It was actually through Ralph, he was investigating something for Clifford and he introduced us. I think that’s why he’s been so insistent on helping, he blames himself. He shouldn’t and I’ve told him so, but he still does. Still, he’s a good friend.”

“Huh,” Iris said.

“Something on your mind?” Barry asked.

“The beginnings of something, possibly,” Iris said. “Let’s talk about something nicer. Have you got any siblings?”

“No, it’s just me and my parents. I’ve got some cousins on Ma’s side, but they’re not local. You’ve got a brother and sisters, right?”

“Wally, Jenna, and Joanie,” Iris said. “Well, Dad and Cecile aren’t married so technically Joanie isn’t my step-sister, but they’ve been together long enough we count it. You’d probably like Wally, he’s a mechanic.”

* * *

Barry was nice. Iris enjoyed her evening with him. The next evening too when Ralph was working late again. And the next day.

She also knew herself well enough to know when she had a crush, but that was inappropriate right now so Iris pushed that down and decided to just be friends.

Ralph was there when she opened her office up the next day.

“Barry’s on his way up, he’s just talking to Linda about something,” Ralph said. “He said you’ve been spending a lot of time together.”

“He’s nice,” Iris said. “I like him.”

“I knew you would.”

“You’re in a good mood this morning.”

“Made a breakthrough on a case,” Ralph said. “I’ll tell you everything when it’s done.”

“Good luck.”

Iris paused a moment before opening her door. Ralph was planning on telling her everything?

“Ralph?”

Iris flew back as an explosion rocked through Ralph’s office. Smoke poured out from under the door.

She coughed as she tried to get through. Ralph’s office was full of smoke, too thick to see.

“Ralph!” Iris spluttered. Flames licked at the walls. She should have worn a scarf, anything.

“Iris, you have to get out,” Mister Conway who ran a law firm from the floor above said. “Iris-”

“Ralph’s in there-”

“It’s too dangerous, you have to get out-”

“Ralph!”

She was being pulled away now.

“Miss, I need you to come with me,” someone said. “We’ll get your friend, but you need to get out.”

Iris couldn’t breathe. Her head was throbbing. Something was wrapped around her shoulders.

Barry and Linda rushed over. They looked terrified.

“Are you all right?” Barry asked. “Are you hurt?”

“Ralph-”

“On his way to Central City General,” a paramedic said. “Same place you’re going.”

“We’ll come find you, Iris,” Linda promised.

* * *

Iris was treated for a concussion, smoke inhalation, and shock. The hospital wanted to keep her in for a while, and Iris guessed it was Linda who called her dad.

“I’m fine, really,” Iris said again as he continued to fuss over her. “Dad.”

“You could have been killed,” he said.

“But no one was. Were they?”

“No, no one was. Did you see anyone acting suspicious?”

“No. It wasn’t an accident, was it.”

“Someone put a bomb in Ralph’s desk drawer. We’ll need to speak to him properly when he wakes up, but if there was anything at all...”

“There’s not, Dad. Ralph said he made a breakthrough with a case last night, and he said he’d tell me when it was done, but I don’t know anything else.”

“Get some rest. I’ll wait here.”

* * *

Linda was with her dad when she woke up again. Iris rubbed her eyes.

“How are you feeling?” Linda asked.

“My head hurts, but other than that, fine,” Iris said.

“Our office has been cleared, we can go back in. Ralph’s is going to need fixing up, but they said it’s not too bad. Considering.”

“Barry was with you.”

“We’d only just walked in, we’re both fine. He’s with Ralph now.”

“I want to see him.”

“You can visit Ralph when the doctors tell you you’re cleared to leave,” her dad said.

* * *

Which ended up being the evening. She’d been given clear instruction not to drive and nothing that involved too much hard work, and if her head started hurting too much again, she had to come back.

Ralph’s room wasn’t far. Barry standing next to his bed, talking to a doctor, and Ralph was awake and chipping in.

“Iris!” Ralph said. “Come in, come and help me convince Henry to let me go home.”

“You’re all right,” Barry said. “Linda said you were but… I’m glad you are. Hi, Captain West, sir.”

“Can I have a word with you, Allen? Outside?”

“Barry didn’t have anything to do with this,” the doctor said.

“It’s fine, Dad, it’s just because I was there and I know Ralph,” Barry said. He walked out the room with Iris’ dad.

“So, can I go home now?” Ralph asked.

“No,” Doctor Allen said. “You’re staying there until we’re certain none of your burns are infected.”

Ralph groaned.

“I’m sure Ms West will make sure you stay in bed until Barry’s done,” Doctor Allen said. He smiled and walked out the room.

“That’s Barry’s dad?”

“Yeah,” Ralph said. “Did you get the morphine too?”

“No,” Iris said. “What happened?”

“I opened my drawer, something exploded then everything caught fire. I managed to get behind my chair just in time. How’s my office?”

“Linda said it’s going to need some work to fix it up again, but our office is clear to go back in now.”

Barry walked back in with Iris’ dad.

“Your ma’s just on her way up again, so I’ll give you some space,” Barry said. “I’ll, um, I’ll see you tomorrow, Ralph. See you tomorrow, Iris.”

Barry left quickly.

“We should go home too, Iris,” her dad said. He frowned slightly at Ralph. “Feel better soon, Ralph.”

* * *

Ralph’s office was sealed off, and the corridor would need repainting, but their office only smelt slightly of smoke.

“Have you heard anything about Ralph?” Iris asked.

“He’s fine,” Barry said. “I dropped in this morning with some pastries for him and Debbie.”

“There wasn’t anyone at his place last night.”

“I actually went to my parents’ for the night, Dad insisted.”

“My dad didn’t give you a hard time, did he?”

“No, not at all. Detective Thawne already got witness statements from us, Captain West just wanted to know if I knew why Ralph was being evasive.”

“What?”

“I don’t know either.”

“He could just be trying to keep client confidentiality,” Kamila said.

“And stop a police investigation?” Linda asked. “Not if they were willing to hurt other people as well as him, which they clearly are.”

“They’re not very good at building bombs though,” Allegra said. “Everyone’s fine.”

“Unless that’s the point,” Iris said. “Allegra, can you go to C.C.P.D. and see what they have? Barry, get your coat.”

“What?”

“We’re going to see Ralph. Come on, I’ll get Wally to drive us.”

* * *

Wally was only a couple of minutes after Iris called him, and he didn’t mind waiting outside the hospital for them.

Ralph’s mother wasn’t there.

“I told her to go and get some rest,” Ralph said when Barry asked. “You weren’t long.”

“You know who did this,” Iris said.

“No, I don’t,” Ralph said.

“Okay,” Barry said. “I thought maybe Detective Thawne was just making sure, but you’re definitely lying right now.”

“Ralph,” Iris said. “Someone put a bomb in your desk.”

“Like I told the detective,” Ralph said. “I’ve pissed off a lot of people but giving names could compromise the anonymity of my clients, so I’d have to speak with them first.”

“Ralph, it’s us,” Barry said. “You know exactly who did this.”

“You told me yesterday you made a break-through in a case and would tell me everything when you’ve solved it,” Iris said.

“And I haven’t finished yet. I’m not getting either of you involved in this. Not after last time.”

“This isn’t the same as you introducing me to Professor DeVoe,” Barry said. He looked at Ralph. “Unless it is. Unless you’ve been trying to solve his murder.”

“I already know who killed him. Or, I know who arranged the whole thing. Same person he asked me to look into.”

“Which was who?” Iris asked.

“Mayor Bellows,” Barry said. Iris and Ralph turned to look at him. “Professor DeVoe mentioned wondering who to ask about potential new evidence for a cold case when we met, and that meant I was curious enough to take a look when Director Singh said we’d had an anonymous tip about two a few hours later. The new evidence didn’t pan out but there was something slightly off about the files and the only similarity I could see was that both had then Detective Anthony Bellows as an investigating officer. You deliberately brought me to Jitters knowing he would be there so you could get me curious.”

“That’s why you’ve been blaming yourself,” Iris said. “What do you have? You said yesterday you made a break-through.”

“I have a picture of him and Isabella Santini,” Ralph said. “I don’t know why Professor DeVoe hired me to look into this, I don’t know what he wanted, but I can’t just ignore it.”

“We’ll help,” Iris said.

“People need to know, I agree, but I don’t have proof he was involved in Professor DeVoe’s death yet, that’s why I was going to wait until this was done before saying anything.”

“You’re going to print this?” Barry asked.

“Corruption in the political system and C.C.P.D. is absolutely something people need to know,” Iris said.

“And Marlize deserves answers,” Ralph said. “I have enough an investigation would have to be launched. All my paperwork is in my filing cabinet at home, Barry knows where.”

“I can get it,” Barry said. “You’re going to have to be quick.”

“I can be quick,” Iris said.

* * *

“You’re really sure about investigating this?" Barry asked. "They already destroyed Ralph's office."

"I know," Iris said. "But it's the right thing to do, and this is why we founded the Citizen. You don't have to get involved. This wasn't exactly in the job description."

"I think I'm already involved. And you're right. This is important, and Ralph's my friend."

"We did say the job was only temporary."

"I know. I never intended to end up in journalism. I suppose I could take Ralph's offer of a position in his P.I. firm."

"Maybe solving the case will be enough to convince C.C.P.D. to give you your old job back. Assuming you want to go back."

"If anything, this is even more motivation to make sure people get the right answers and everything is fair," Barry said. "I did like my job a lot. But let's not get too ahead of ourselves."

"We've got a lot to do first," Iris said. "Just make sure you're not a stranger if you do leave."

"I wouldn't dream of it. I think I still owe you a cup of coffee."

"You helped balance my accounts, you really don't."

"We could call it date instead."

"Yeah. I'd like that."


End file.
